Umetarou: Kanashii (Itoshii) Kotoba

I read this a while back and remembered the story from time to time, but never the mangaka or even what the artwork looked like. In my head it was similar to a Yumeka Sumomo story, but I knew for sure it wasn’t hers. I just pulled this title out because it was on the list of things that I never scored and when I started to read it, I was so happy when I realized which story it actually was!

Kanashii is a sad, sweet, and cute story. I ended up feeling heartbroken over most of the characters’ circumstances, even the ones I didn’t like. I thought there was a peaceful kind of torment permeating the air and slowly suffocating the characters. It lulled me into this sort of rhythmic respiration of inhaling sadness and exhaling relief before it completely dissipated.

I think this my favorite work by Umetarou.

Although it can be read alone, this is part of a series. I recommend reading in this order: